King Abdullah’s Warning on Syria

King Abdullah II of Jordan, meeting at the White House on April 26 with US President Barack Obama, warned of the threats of the “fragmentation of Syrian society, which is becoming more and more alarming” and of “militant terrorist organizations,” which are on the rise in Syria. He called for a political solution as “our last hope.”

Obama’s announcement at the same press conference of a further investigation into the use of chemical weapons by Syria, which might take some time, disappointed those clamoring for the revelation to be proof positive that the “red line” had been crossed and should be the final straw for the US to arm the Syrian opposition, establish no-fly zones or even take military action.

Given the ten-year anniversary of the Iraq war, it might appear bewildering that some hype military action based upon (according to the April 25 White House letter to Senators John McCain and Carl Levin, chairman and ranking Republican on the Armed Services Committee) an intelligence assessment made with “varying degrees of confidence” of “small-scale” use, based upon “physiological samples” where “the chain of custody is not clear” — far from definitive evidence that perhaps would even be dismissed, according to UN inspection standards.